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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Sleek recently released five blush trios ("Blush By 3") featuring brand new blush shades, although dupeable even within the Sleek range, named: Lace, Flame (pictured), Pink Sprint, Sugar and Pumpkin. These palettes currently are exclusive to Superdrug, and it's rumored that these will eventually make it to the permanent collection sometime this year.

That being said, Sleek makes some of the best blush from any price point and the quality of the trio is just as stellar. Originally, I fell in love with just Flame because of that bright red (I'm on a red blush kick at the moment) and felt the other trios were just not wearable or would pull too ruddy on my cheeks. And because Sleek is not sold in North America, I couldn't swatch or test these in person. Flame, however, looked extremely unique and Nicole of the blogBeauty-Free was kind enough to pick up one up for me. I am so glad I finally have this because...

...how gorgeous are those colors?! Upon seeing the palette in person, it was a bit smaller than expected. Here is a comparison w/ a NARS Blush:

The content inside, however, exceeded my expectations because they are nothing short of fantastic; the texture completely spot-on to Sleek's signature buttery-but-pure-pigment quality and like with most of Sleek's blushes, being light-handed when applying these is a must. If you can't be light-handed, then using a duo-fibre or uber-soft blue squirrel brush will suffice. Getting back to Flame, each shade is appropriately named to play off the theme of flame. Starting from the far right, Furnace (a shimmery bronze-coral):

They all apply and blend beautifully and although Molten and Furnace look quite similar in the pan, they swatch completely different on the skin. My photography couldn't do the beautiful color and pigmentation any justice but here's my attempt:

Paper Swatches

And dupe alert! The middle shade, Bon Fire, is a close dupe of NARS Exhibit A:

A bit close up:

Exhibit A is more of a tomato red and leans a bit more orange whereas Bon Fire is a pure fiery bright red. They essentially look identical once applied:

These palettes retail for £9.99/$15 and are currently exclusive to Superdrug. There are some available on eBay (w/ hiked prices, of course) but these will also be available on Sleek's Official Site some time late Spring from what I'm told. I'm waiting for 'Sugar' and 'Pink Sprint' in the mail, but I'll end up getting 'Lace' as well as "Pumpkin" because I am so impressed with the quality and bold color choices which are so unique for any brand, let alone a drugstore one. Sleek continues to get it right.